Omen of the Dragon
by Nocturne Symphony
Summary: Hiccup encounters a boy who fell out of the sky blue. Stressed, scared, and stone-hearted, the boy refuses to answer anything Hiccup asks about his past. How will Hiccup understand who this boy is let alone the dangers Gothi predicts will follow this boy? If he doesn't find out soon, it could mean the extinction of the dragon race.
1. New Arrival

So, this is my How to Train Your Dragon fanfic. There's been a dramatic change since my last update, but I think you'll come to understand Tumble's character much more easily. So, as per usual, I do not own Dreamwork's Dragons. The owners put their names in the dang title. The only things I own are my OC's.

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Chapter 1: The Falling Star  
Early morning winds were always cool and moist; two things that always soothed the course skin of dragons. Hiccup and Toothless took their morning flight high above Berk. It was a daily activity: it was exercise for Toothless whose deficiency of half a tail prevented him from flying on his own. But the dragon didn't mind. It was a reminder of how he and Hiccup first met. Sure the boy may have struck him with a bola, binding his wings and injuring his tail; but the event led him to befriend his rider and best friend, Hiccup.

"Look, boy," Hiccup called. He was pointing up at the dawn sky. Against the hues of orange and purple, Hiccup pointed out a falling star.

Suddenly, Toothless sensed something. It was coming from the shooting star. Toothless jettisoned towards the object, much to Hiccup's surprise.

Hiccup regained his balance on the dragon's back and helped with every which he wanted to veer. He knew Toothless was on to something, and saw the dragon's eyes fixated on the falling star. He felt something off about it. It hadn't disappeared like most stars would.  
Toothless growled and his eyes saw not a falling star, but a falling dragon. Hiccup eventually saw it, too, when the wings opened and the object lunged towards them. The boy's eyes widened when he couldn't recognize the breed as it whipped by overhead. It was so incredibly fast, like a flash of lightning.

"What is that?" he asked himself, to which Toothless responded with a bewildered bellow.

The foreign dragon turned and tucked its wings in and spiraled towards the partners. Hiccup veered Toothless downwards out of the dragon's path. When the dragon opened its wings, it was just overhead and Hiccup noticed something blue pressed against the dragon's body.

"Toothless! It's holding someone! I think it's trying to look for someplace to land!"

Toothless understood and fell back. The other dragon hissed in warning and descended rapidly towards the terrace. Hiccup followed its path with his eyes and knew exactly where it was going.

"Come on, buddy. We need to go back home. And quick."

Hiccup and Toothless reached the village promptly and saw that everyone had already gathered around the dragon. At its feet was an unconscious boy around Hiccup's age. His black hair covered his eyes, and even from a distance, Hiccup saw his labored breathing. When people tried to approach him, the dragon hissed furiously at them and drove them back with flailing claws. Even dragons couldn't approach the boy, let alone the dragon itself.

Hiccup bumped into his father, Stoick the Vast, as he dismounted Toothless.

Stoick gave his son a stern look and asked, "What is going on, son?"

"It's a new dragon, and it brought someone with it. He's unconscious and no one can get near him. The thing strikes at anything that comes too close."

Stoick heard enough and approached the crowd. Everyone saw him and cleared his way. The dragon retracted defensively and looked ready for a strike.

"Gobber," he called. The large burly man stepped through the crowd to be seen. "Any idea what this is?"

"Nope," his friend said. "This is a dragon even I have yet to encounter."

Stoick sighed and turned to Hiccup. "Think you can handle it?"

Hiccup nodded and stepped forward. Slowly, he approached the dragon, inching closer as nonthreatening as he could appear. The dragon craned back more. Hiccup saw its eyes twitch down at the boy, then back at him. Suddenly, it lunged with a swipe of its claws, forcing Hiccup to stumble down to his back. The dragon snarled, the wrinkles on its brow deep and frantic. The boy stood back up and inched closer again, this time looking away and reaching out his hand. He had to get this dragon to trust him somehow. He waited and felt the dragon's breath against his hand. He waited for a good long while, and the crowd watched in anticipation, partly out of worry, partly out of awe. Suddenly, Hiccup heard it snarl and lunge, and quickly moved his hand away. He paused and thought. Taking down the dragon with this boy nearby would be too dangerous. He might be seriously hurt. He watched the dragon and saw the ferocity in its eyes. It was like the eyes of a mother protecting its young.

"I can't figure out how to tame it," Hiccup concluded morbidly. He groaned and turned back to his father who looked consolingly at his son. "Sorry, Dad."

"It's okay, Hiccup. Our first concern is to get that boy treated." Stoick ordered everyone to leave the boy and the dragon alone for the time being. "Give the dragon some time to relax."

The crowd thinned, and Hiccup and Toothless was left alone with the new dragon and the boy. Hiccup sat across from them and hid his face in his arms. He was confused; why didn't the dragon trust him?

Suddenly, Toothless approached the boy, and Hiccup tried to stop him. The other dragon hissed again, but was hushed when an unexpected hand reached up to pet its jaw.

"Calm down, buddy."

Hiccup looked to the boy and saw him struggle to get up. It looked like staying awake was even a challenge. Through gritted teeth and heavy eyelids, the boy hushed consoling words of "It'll be okay," and "Don't worry. I'm okay." The dragon seemed to calm a little, but then tensed at the sound of Hiccup's voice.

"Hey," Hiccup cried as he tried to approach the boy. The dragon bellowed, but was ordered to heel by the injured boy. "Are you alright? What's your name?"

The boy groaned as he fell back down, but managed to say, "Tumble. I just need to get some rest. There are some broken ribs here and there, but otherwise, I'm fine. I'm hungry, though. Can't tell what I need more, food or sleep."

Hiccup laughed, happy to know the kid still had some humor left in him. Hiccup lifted the boy gently and both dragons followed him back to the Grand Hall.

Stoick bedded Tumble in his home for the meantime. Gobber said he'd tend to the boy and see if there were any lasting injuries. Until then, Hiccup lent Tumble his bed. The boy laid in Hiccup's bed, unconscious with uneven breathing. Hiccup could see the fear in the boy's face. Unexpectedly, hands flung everywhere as if he was trying to swat something away. Hiccup let the boy be and left to sleep downstairs.

Slumber was unkind to Tumble. He relived the memory before he faded out. Fog was the first thing he remembered. Fog so thick not even the water was visible over the edge of the small vessel.

Many wanted to return, but where? Their island had been taken under siege by an unknown tribe that killed off almost every brave warrior of the Bonehead Clan.  
The next thing he remembered was his sore arms and how Seamus, the captain of the vessel, reprimanded him and teased him.

"How could you hope to lead our clan?" It was the usual complaint. "Do you think just because you're the last remaining heir of the McFadden line, I'm supposed follow a- a hiccup like you?"

Tumble felt a fire burn in his gut as the term was spat in his face. It wasn't the first time he was called that, but it felt more personal after he lost his father in the war.  
Tumble stood and stared at Seamus up and breathed in. Seamus waited.

"Do you think I want to be the heir? Do you think I think highly of myself just because Odrich the Ominous is my father? I tried my hardest to live up to the McFadden name, even gave up my dream to take on my dad's title. Do you think I did this because I didn't think I can lead the tribe? What about you, Seamus? Do I have to remind that this hiccup saved your hide on more than one account? Let me remind you: You were cornered by a dragon and nearly got yourself killed. And if it weren't for me you wouldn't be here right now."

Seamus hushed at Tumble's rant, humiliated into silence at the memory. Seamus said no more and returned to guiding the ships.

Hours passed and still no sign to the end of this fog. Tumble remembered resting and looking up. That was when things went bad. A large shadow floated above them, unnoticed by the other crews. Tumble nudged his oar-buddy, Half-Ear and pointed up at the sky. He and everyone looked up. Dread settled in and soon, everyone grabbed a weapon and prepared for battle. Despite their miniscule number of 300, the dragon was clearly outnumbered. The desire to kill a dragon was deep in their blood. They all gave a loud war cry and drew their weapons. They waited for the dragon to fight, but when the shadow descended, that was when the panic settled in. The shadow grew increasingly larger by the second, and in a matter of moments, it towered over them. A dark grey blotch stood high like a wall beside their vessel. Hopelessness iced their blood and when the earth-shattering bellow rippled through the air and stirred the waters, it was every man for himself. Many abandoned ship, despite the terrors of the deep. Others stood their ground, protecting the mothers and children paralyzed by fear. But then there was Tumble, who looked on in awe at the beast, afraid yet strangely curious. The beast roared and fire swept through the fog. At the last second, the remaining members leapt overboard into the safety of the waters. There was turbulence in the water, signaling the dragon's lethargic yet ominous movement. Its roars filled the heart with terror, and when another fire was launched, the ghostly face of the dragon became clearer. Through the haze and smoke, the large face of an undocumented dragon scorched its image in Tumble's memory.

"Land ho!" he remembered hearing, and swam towards the sound.

He was far away, but he could see a small group of shadowy spots moving to the same point. They were going to make it. Suddenly, the dragon roared again and flames flickered from the dragon's mouth. Tumble felt his own mouth open to scream, "DIVE!" but felt his throat fill with fear. He only whispered the plea, hoping they would get the message, but he knew his cowardice was his gravest mistake. The dragon's flame burst forth and the shadows screamed in agony in a fast, fleeting moment before all went silent.

In a panic, Tumble hurried to swim over to where the survivors would be, but felt the swampy, ashy water. Helmets drifted cap-sided. Tumble's heart fell. Tears fell heavily from his eyes, and he screamed so loud he shut up the moment he remembered the beast was still there. He turned to the shadow, whose head turned to and fro, as if searching for something.

Then, it stopped in Tumble's direction. When Tumble saw the first spark, he dove, and waited for the fire to pass. Once it did, he surfaced for a breath of air. He looked over to the titan and saw that the flame, again, was in mid-shot. He couldn't dodge it in time. He was done for.

He quickly felt the heat flush against his face, and awaited for his untimely death. Only, instead of feeling his skin scorch and burn, he felt a harsh thrust of air against his body and a pair of sharp nails light digging into his skin.

Did the Valkyries come to bring him to Valhalla? But he hadn't died valiantly in battle. He was a coward, a fool. He let himself question if the vikings could trust him, only to let them die. If Tumble really did die, then the gods must have decided to cast him into Hel.

Tumble opened his eyes and saw the scenery around him blur, and his head began to hurt. The last thing he remembered was seeing fire and falling before his vision blacked out. Before slipping into sleep, he had embraced the darkness and the agonizing pain that followed.


	2. Black and White

So, Chapter 2 is up. Hope you guys noticed the slight change in the first chapter. You'll see Tumble's actual nature in this chapter. Enjoy!  
Disclaimer: Dreamworks owns Dragons and How to Train Your Dragon. I own only my OC's.

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Chapter 2:

Tumble's eyes slowly blinked open but quickly clamped shut as the sun's light seared his vision. He was in absolute pain as he sat himself up and stretched carefully despite the pain. Every single joint he had popped loudly and clearly, and places where he didn't think had joints gave a soft yawn and finally, and his eyes finally became used to the sun again.

He remembered what happened before he passed out and quickly looked around him. He wasn't at sea anymore, and he was nowhere near the Perimeter. Instead, he found himself in a bed in someone's house. He shifted his weight and almost screamed in pain the moment he moved.

"I wouldn't move around so much, if I were you," a voice called from below.

Tumble looked to his side and found a large and greatly bearded man climbing up a flight of steps with a smaller familiar-looking brunette behind him.

"How did the night treat you," the man asked. "Hiccup mentioned you had a restless night."

Tumble looked over to the boy, who waved amiably at him. Tumble felt uncomfortable at the gesture for some reason.

"I've had better nights, honestly," Tumble admitted. "But what happened?"

"You landed in the village square," the man replied. "Took a nasty fall and suffered some injuries. Some of the villagers tried to help, but your dragon kept scaring them away!"  
Tumble's mind went blank for a moment. "My... dragon?"

"Yeah," Hiccup chimed in. "Your dragon's not like anything we've seen. I'd like to add in our Book of Dragons later, if you don't mind."

"Slow down a second," Tumble urged. "I'm lost, here. Where am I? And... who are you?"

"Why, you're in Berk!" Stoick informed. "I'm Stoick the Vast, chief of this small island. And this," he said, swinging a hand behind Hiccup, "is my son, Hiccup."

"Nice to meet you," Hiccup introduced. He held out his hand, but recoiled slightly when Tumble only looked at it with shy uncertainty. Hiccup found himself at a sudden loss for words, and the air between them became awkward.

"I'm Tumble," the boy shyly introduced.

Stoick smiled and patted the boy's shoulders.

"Well, you rest up here in our home, Tumble. I have to go make my morning rounds, but Hiccup will keep you company."

Stoick stepped downstairs and the door creaked and slammed shut. The boys were left alone in an awkward silence.

Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, but found himself clamping it shut before he could speak. Hiccup shift his weight from one foot to the other before deciding to take a seat at his desk.

Tumble looked over and noticed all the drawings behind the desk. There were so many of them. The vast majority were of what Tumble assumed to be a night fury, a dragon known only in reputation but never thought to have been seen. The pictures of the dragon were often drawn with some sketches of some mechanics that Tumble couldn't understand.

"What are they?" Tumble asked curiously. He quickly bit his tongue, fearing he said something out of place.

Hiccup eyed him cautiously and chuckled. "Dude, relax. I don't bite." He took down one of the sheets pinned to the wall and handed it to Tumble, who had to lean to reach it.

"Sorry," he said as he scooted the chair closer. "Gobber said not to do anything strenuous like reaching."

"Who?" asked Tumble, but barely heard Tumble as he looked over the parchment.

"He's the local blacksmith, but he's mainly the village's dragon vet."

Tumble could have sworn he was hearing things and shot his focus back to Hiccup.

"Dragon vet?" he asked. "Really?"

Hiccup shrugged. "What can I say? Dragons became a necessity of the island. They're our family and friends now."

"So you mean to say that you live with dragons... and you don't force them to do your bidding?" Tumble eyed Hiccup keenly, trying to understand what the island was about.

"Er, 'against their will' is pretty harsh. We have to coax them to do it."

"With swords and whips?"

"What, no!" Hiccup insisted. "We feed them and we show them what they could do. Then they just do it on their own. No swords or whips or axes involved at all!"

Tumble let out a sigh. It wasn't one of relief or one of frustration, but a sigh of long-held dread that he was forced to cope with.

"What, dragons are still being hunted where you're from?" Hiccup asked. "I mean, it's still common practice and the idea that dragons can be trained is really hard to swallow-"

"It's not that," Tumble intercepted. "I've been training dragons since I was small. Growing up in a village where dragons are only seen as heartless weapons is pretty hard. It was my father who sanctioned the idea that dragons could be trained. But my village mistunderstood and thought they found the greatest weapon imaginable."

"So dragons were a means of slave labor," Hiccup morbidly concluded. "That's terrible."

Tumble inhaled deeply. The two sat in another silence, before Hiccup decided to break it before things got too awkward.

"So," Hiccup said . "The dragon that brought you here; was that your dragon?"

Tumble frowned. "No. He's my father's. I'm alive thanks to him. But, where is he?"

"He flew off towards the forest once we got here."

"Then, he's just getting away from the commotion. He isn't used to being approached without suspicion."

"Can you see if you can find him? I'd really appreciate that."

Hiccup smiled. "Sure." And left the house.

Aster's light blue eyes locked with the striking yellow eyes of the night fury before him. It was an intense territorial gaze that could become physical with one move.

Aster thought a cove hidden in the forest would be a good hiding spot from the village until Tumble came calling for him. He expected the cove to be tranquil and relaxing. What he didn't expect was for a young night fury to be perched atop a large rock. The night fury seemed to have been roused from his nap and put up his guard once he smelled the presence of another dragon.

Toothless crouched, ready to pounce if the white dragon took another step closer. Aster looked just as menacing and was unwilling to leave. Aster stalked off to the other side of the cove away from the cove's firstcomer. Their scrutinizing gaze never broke as the night fury leaped from from his perch and slowly stalked towards Aster.  
Aster paused. And so did Toothless.

Their gaze momentarily broke when Aster cocked his head towards the sky. He left the ground with a boom and within seconds he was high above Berk. Toothless watched until the foreign dragon disappeared behind the tops of the surrounding trees.

He grunted and returned to his perch. Toothless was about to close his eyes when he caught a glistened flash in the corner of his eyes. Aster returned, but this time with a fish in his front claw. Aster walked towards Toothless. He was far enough not to be considered any more of a threat than he already was, but was close enough to show what he had.

Aster put the fish down and backed away. Toothless eyed it suspiciously, leaped down from his perch, and sniffed it. It was safe, and he swallowed it. He turned to Aster who began looking around for a suitable perch for himself. Toothless returned to his own perch, but by the time he reached it, Aster had already flown to it. The night fury gave a territorial roar, only to be answered with what he thought was a condescending smirk.

Toothless snarled, but went off to a cleared area to scorch the ground. He circled it to find a comfortable position and settled atop the heated soil.

The sun settled low when Toothless awoke. He looked at the rock and found it vacant. Aster must have left, he thought, but a shimmering light by the pond flickered in his peripheral. Aster was bent low to take a sip, unaware that Toothless was awake. Toothless felt playful and devised a nasty trick. Silently, he breathed in then burst out a small plasma blast that exploded harmlessly just above Aster's head. The night fury expected the unkown dragon to screech in surprise, but was interested when Aster took on a battle stance instead.

Toothless stood and was ready to pounce. His teeth bared when he gave a low and rumbling growl.

Aster gave something like a scratchy growl and stood on two feet. The dragon was bipedal, able to stand stable on his hindlegs, and his arms were raised with ready talons. The dragon's body was longer than Toothless by a full head, but his spread wings made him seem much larger than that.

Toothless didn't back down. He hopped over to the side and blasted another fire, this time at Aster. The foreign dragon folded his wings and dodged the fireball. His motion on the ground was fluid. Even though he was running on four legs, he moved like a nimble snake.

Aster rapidly approached Toothless and before he could even blink, the night fury was swept aside by Aster's tail. Toothless stuck his landing and fired two more shots at the dragon. Aster dodged both easily, but failed to see Toothless bounding at him. The white dragon was tackled down, the two quickly became a tangled mess of black and white as the two wrestled. The fight ended when the scuffle had them falling into the pond.

"What's going on here?!" Hiccup yelled from the cove's entrance. Hiccup arrived not even a minute ago after seeing the flashes of the plasma blasts, and saw the dragons brawling on the ground. When the dragons dragged themselves out of the water, Hiccup approached them. "What the heck is going on here?"

Both dragons looked away from each other and pointed to the other dragon.

Hiccup sighed.

"Toothless was playin' a prank on that other, badass dragon," a familiar voice called from above. Hiccup looked up and found the lanky form of his friend, Tuffnut, stand at the ledge with his twin sister, Ruffnut, and their two-headed hideous zippleback Barf and Belch.

"Then," Ruffnut added, "that other, badass dragon went all defensive and they started fighting." She fisted the air to animate her description.

"Oh," said Hiccup. "So that's what happened. You're having a little less fish tonight, bud."  
Toothless whined and snarled at Aster. Hiccup reprimanded him for that.

"Stop that, Toothless. And you," he said to Aster. "I'll be letting Tumble know what happened."

The dragon turned his head away highly, as if trying not to care, and flew off to another location. Toothless flew up to the twin's location.

"Astrid's looking for you, by the way," Tuffnut added as he mounted Belch.

"What does she want?" Hiccup asked.

"Dunno," Ruffnut said devilishly. "But she looked mad enough to be hurling her ax at almost every tree nearby. She and Tuffnut laughed when Hiccup paled and gulped dryly.

"Dude, relax! I'm joking. She wants to ask about that new kid."

Hiccup sighd and silently thanked Thor for sparing his life.

"Actually," Tuffnut asked. "Who is that kid, really?"

"And was that his dragon?"

"Yeah," responded Hiccup to Ruffnut. "The kid's name is Tumble, son of a big time dragon trainer on his island."

"No way," the twins gaped in awe.

"Yeah, and he's been training dragons much longer than us."

"That is so cool!" Ruffnut said excitedly. "Where is he?"

"Resting. He took a bad beating when he crashed into the square."

The twins said their goodbyes and quickly flew off, and Hiccup departed in the same direction.

Hiccup found Astrid at her house tending to Stormfly. She just finished brushing the deadly nadder's brilliant scales and went pick up a bucket when she caught a glimpse of Hiccup off to the side.

"Hey," she greeted. "So, I take it Tuffnut actually relayed the message?"

"Yep," Hiccup said. "You had some questions you wanted to ask?"  
Astrid soaked a rag in the bucket and began scrubbing her dragon. Stormfly's cooed contentedly as she thoroughly enjoyed the moisture of the rag.

"Well, my first question: Where did he come from? Why is he here? And, lastly, who is he?"

Hiccup felt the intense suspicion Astrid held. This wasn't the first time, and he still regretted not listening to his friend in favor of trusting a stranger who came out of nowhere. Much like Tumble had.

"I don't know where he's from or why he's here," Hiccup answered honestly. "His name's Tumble, and he's a dragon trainer."

Astrid paused scrubbing Stormfly, much to the dragon's confusion.

"He's a dragon trainer?" Her brows furrowed. "Do you trust him?"

"Eh, not so much," Hiccup admitted. "His dragon did just fight with Toothless a while ago, but that's mainly because of this guy," he said poking Toothless on the forehead. Toothless brushed off the gesture and snorted casually. "Yeah, yeah, Mr. Nonchalant."

Astrid giggled, but hardened. "Just... don't let it be like last time, okay? The Outcasts nearly had the Book of Dragons then. We don't need that to happen again."

Hiccup sighed. "I know. We can't let Mildew's surrender be in vain."

Astrid's face hardened a little more. "What..." but she trailed off.

"What,'what'?" Hiccup asked.

Astrid turned. "I don't know. What if Mildew didn't surrender? What if he planned to stay behind? Did you show him anything? Did you tell him anything?"

She trailed from one question to the other, and Hiccup felt guiltier when he realized he could answer most of them and still see the thread of tricks that was being wound together. Before he could answer, Astrid sighed.

"Nevermind. We can't do anything about it. Yet. Going back there now would be suicide."  
Hiccup agreed. "So, what about Tumble? Do we just ignore him and let him do as he pleases or do we keep an eye on him 24/7 and hope he doesn't try anything?"

"You know, I think we should keep an eye out for him. Let him roam the town. Let him do whatever he wants. But we'll be watching him every step of the way until he can prove to us he can be trusted."

"Agreed," Hiccup nodded. "I should let you get back to bathing Stormfly. She looks impatient."

Astrid gasped and began apologizing to her while scrubbing her back. Hiccup laughed and returned home.

Tumble laid bedridden in Hiccup's bed. The sun was falling, and he had been looking over his journal since Hiccup had left. It was his fathers journal the had been handed down to Tumble the day before the invasion was announced. It was to commemorate his coming of age as a professional dragon trainer and to mark his maturity from boyhood to manhood.

Tumble flipped through the first portion of the book, which was his father's. It contained much of his father's past and how he came across numerous dragons. Among the first were his personal battle dragons: Aesir, the monstrous nightmare, whose voice is the fire that coats his body like fur on a beast. Vanir, the deadly nadder whose beauty matched her vicious prowess as a sharpshooting archer. And finally, the scauldron Aegis, who was said to have roused tidal waves and whirlpools with a flick of his tail. But of all the dragons Odrich the Ominous confronted, none was more mysterious than the dragon, Aster, who fell from the heavens in Odin's light. His father wrote how this dragon appeared the very same day Odrich Hiccup McFadden II was born. This was Tumble's true name, whose name was given because he learned to walk late, and would always fall trying.

The rest detailed Tumble's childhood and bloody wars he fought over the course of time until he passed it on to his son. Tumble's favorite had to be when he was small. He was playing in the Grove of Dragons with his father, basking in the sunlight with a pack of terrors, when he saw a beautiful dragon sleeping in the middle of a flowerbed, he ran up to his father asking, 'what is that?' His father, thinking he was point at the flowers - thanks to Tumble's lack of coordinaiton - replied, 'Morning Glory.' Tumble ran up to the dragon and said, 'Hi, Morning Glory!' His father laughed and found the misunderstanding endearing, but thought it was a fitting name. Aster was indeed a glorious sight to behold during the early hours of the day when dawn had just broken through the night. He was a star that shone brighter than any other dragon.

Tumble flipped through more pages and found his own section, filled with not journal entries, but drawings and short notes of dragons. The evening he recieved his father's journal, he took his own journal and copied everything he noted since he was small into it. There were page after page filled drawings of dragons he had close encounters with and how they behaved. Nadders, gronkles, zipplebacks, and terrors. But there were less common dragons he encountered, such as skrills and boneknappers.  
Tumble took out a charcoal pen from a pocket inside of his fleece vest and began doodling on the very last page. He felt his sweat run cold and his vision blurred slightly, but he finished the sketch of a silhouetted beast that towered over his ship. Three eyes shone through the darker clouds, and the water he drew rippled violently.  
He heard the door open and shut the book. He pulled the covers over himself and feigned sleep.

"Huh. He fell asleep," he heard Hiccup say to himself. "I'll just have to ask him later, then."

He heard footsteps go down and shifted his weight to the other side. The moment he pulled the covers down was the moment he wished he hadn't. Hiccup staged his exit.

"So," Hiccup said. "How come you don't wanna talk?"

Tumble stayed silent and ignore the pain as he sat up.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and was about to actually go downstairs, but his eye caught a glimpse of something: an odd outline under sheets. Hiccup quirked an eyebrow and too a seat- not at his desk like before, but on the bed on an open space near Tumble.  
Tumble scooched away and tried his best to avoid eye contact, but the odd look in Hiccup's eye made him uncomfortably curious. Before he could even spat, "What?" Hiccup's hand quickly reached under the sheet and grabbed the hard object that caught his attention.

Hiccup pulled out the book and walked over to his desk. Tumble resented his body being bent out of shape, and futilly reached for the book, and almost fell out of the bed in the process.

"What is this? A journal?"

"Give it back!" Tumble finally spoke.

Hiccup turned the cover. "What is it?"

Tumble shot Hiccup a glare and hissed as he struggled to get up.

"W-what are you doing?" Hiccup hurried to ease the boy back down into the bed. He gave Tumble back the book. "What is it?" he asked again.

Tumble said nothing and returned te journal back to his vest.

Hiccup huffed and sat leaned back into the chair. He wondered how to get the boy to open up to him. He looked around and saw the schematics for Toothless's tail. They brought back so much memories. He looked back down at his leg and a smirk formed on his lips.

"Man, do I miss my leg," Hiccup acted. This immediately caught Tumble's attention, who looked down and saw the prosthetic.

"What the hell happened?"

"A dragon. That's what happened. It happened after I had finally earned Toothless's trust."

"Toothless?" Tumble muttered. His thoughts returned to the drawings on the wall and immediately recognized its breed from rumors he only heard from elders. "He's the night fury, isn't he?"

Hiccup had a proud smirk across his face. "Yeah. Took me a while, but he finally warmed up to me. When my dad found out, he took him with an armada to find a dragon's nest in Helheim's Gate, this near-impenetrable fog that covers the whole area."

Tumble froze. The description matched the Perimeter. Hiccup didn't notice his shock and continued.

"I had to train my friends how to ride their dragons and we managed to get there in time to save everyone from this gigantic dragon. It was half the size of a volacano, and the ground shook as it walked. It had three eyes and a fire that could decimate a fleet of ships with a single breath."

Tumble stopped breathing. The memories flashed across his mind and his entire body shook violently. Hiccup panicked and tried to calm the boy, but failed. The last thing Tumble saw before he passed out was Hiccup scurrying down the stairs, yelling frantically for help.


	3. The Threat

Disclaimer: Dragons and How to Train Your Dragon are both properties of Dreamwork's Studio. I own only my OC's.

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Chapter 3:

Tumble's eyes fluttered open and was met with the observing gaze of an old woman. She had a look of revelation, but made not even a breath. She disappeared from Tumble's line of sight and a different face made itself known. This time, it was Stoick.

"He's awake," he said. "What happened, Hiccup?"

"He just seized up and passed out," he heard Hiccup explain from somewhere. "I was talking about the- I was talking about what happened before and he just passed out."

Hiccup spoke barely above a whisper and Tumble groaned in pain as he tried to listen.

"Calm down, lad," Stoick said calmingly. "Can you speak?"

Tumble nodded and sat up. "I'm fine, thank you. I was just... freaked out is all."

Stoick's gaze fixed itself on someone else in the room. Following Stoick's eyes, he saw a large man, not as large as Stoick but still a giant compared to himself.

"Gothi says he'll be fine in the morning. Jus' don't aggravate the past."

"Aggravate the past?" Hiccup asked. "You mean he saw the R- Er, he saw what we did?"

Gobber nodded. "Seems so. So, I suggest that you forget about it, okay?" Gobber turned around and found Gothi writing more. "Er, nevermind. Gothi wants us to know what happened, but only when he's good and ready."

Stoick nodded. "Agreed." The men escorted Gothi downstairs.

"Tumble," Hiccup said to the bedridden boy. "You're going to have to tell us one day. But if it hurts, then don't force yourself. Sorry for bringing something up."

Tumble inhaled and was about to say that he should be the one apologizing, but held back wondering if it was the right thing to say. But he missed his chance when Hiccup followed his father downstairs.

The morning after, Tumble woke up earlier than he was used to. Dawn was just beginning to crack and the roosters were crowing in the distance. Tumble felt his body relax more than before and tried to stand. Wobbly, he tried walking from the bed to the far wall. He felt a sort of content when his legs finally popped the last remain kinks in his body.

Downstairs, Hiccup was still asleep. It was then that Tumble finally saw Toothless. In the shadows, the dragon was practically invisible, but there was a gentle heat coming from behind the sleeping boy. Yellow eyes shot open and gazed deeply at Tumble. Tumble fell back in fear, but Toothless closed his eyes again to sleep.

Tumble felt his sweat run cold. It was his first time seeing the eyes of a night fury. They were nothing like any dragon he ever saw. Even the soulless eyes of a whispering death couldn't compare to the penetrating gaze that dragon held on him.

He walked out the door and felt the crisp cold breeze against his face. He could finally see the village where he landed. He looked around and saw the most amazing sight. Dragons flew around the village, perched on homes, trees, and soaring through the air. Best of all, there were no arrows or boulders flying with them, nor were there any battle cries or attempts to harness their draconic prowess.

They were simply there as part of the village.

Tumble walked around, moving from one point to another. He found shops beginning to open and display their wares and produce. Pubs turned their signs from open to close and tossing out any lingering and unwanted drunkards who chose to stay the night. Tumble enjoyed the simplicity of the city and found that while the village was pleasant, it was very, very small.

"There you are," he heard. Tumble feared it was Hiccup again trying to prod him again about his past. But it wasn't. It was a lanky teenager with a long mane of blonde hair.

"You're the kid who crashed the other day!"

Tumble nodded, but was unsure of how to respond.

"Awesome! I'm Tuffnut," he said holding out his hand. "And this here is my sister, Ruffnut." There was a girl behind Tuffnut, who looked almost the same, only her hair was braided and had a more slender face.

"Your dragon was cool yesterday," Ruffnut mentioned. "It had a wicked fight with Toothless over something or another."

Tumble's eyes shot open. "He fought?"

"Yeah!" Tuffnut said energetically. "He was all standing like he was some big boss after Toothless shot a fireball right above it's head. It was cool."

"But your dragon dodged the other fireballs and then they wrestled until they hit the water. It was a lame draw." Ruffnut rolled her eyes, but then smiled. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tumble," the boy answered meekly.

"You train dragons, I heard," Tuffnut commented. "What kind is yours? Zippleback? Nadder? Gronkle?"

Tumble was unsure how to respond, but was distracted when he caught a glimpse of the zippleback behind the twins.

"Oh. My. Gods. Is that your zippleback?"

"Yeah," Tuffnut said proudly. "That's Barf and that's Belch," he introduced, pointing to each head. "Most of the training was because of me, though- Oof!"

Tuffnut received a punch in the face by his sister. "We both trained him, dickweed!"

Tumble ignored the two and was looking the dragon over. "Wow! This is the healthiest zippleback I've ever seen! Look at that skin tone! The muscles on him are very well-developed! And those teeth! If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that you had sharpened them yourself!"

The twins stopped their violent squabble and listened as the boy geek about the condition of their dragon.

"So... zippleback then?" Tuffnut chirped.

"Yeah. And a gronkle. I have a small pack of terrible terrors, a skrill, and two whispering deaths."

"Whoa!" the twins mouthed excitedly.

"Then, what dragon was that?" Ruffnut asked.

"Yeah, the one we saw was a completely different kind."

"Morning glory," Tumble answered simply. He pretended he was still looking the dragon over to hid his blush.

"That's a pretty cool name" the male twin remarked. "Why morning glory? Does it fly in the morning, or something?"

Tumble felt that the twins didn't even know what a morning glory even was. He turned around to look at them.

"Well, my father said that he loves to fly at the break of dawn and looks exactly like a shooting star."

"I think I see him, then," Ruffnut said, looking up.

Tumble looked up at the same patch of sky she was looking at and found his dragon sailing across the stars like he was one of them. Tumble watched as Aster descended in an arc towards the forest.

"Well, we're gonna go kill things in the forest," Tuffnut said. "Wanna come?"

"Er, no thanks," Tumble refused humbly. "I've got some errands to run."

"Suit yourself," the blonde boy shrugged and walked off with Ruffnut and their dragon.

Tumble meandered about until he came across a butchery. He eyed the cut meats and found some very tempting yak steaks as fat as his own arm. He dug into his pockets for anything that could be used as currency and found a small sack full of gold. It was all he had on him, since the rest were lost at sea.

"How much can I get with this?" Tumble asked with a gold coing raised in his palm.

The butcher eyed the coin and gave a wide smile. "Anything you want, lad!" he said happily.

Tumble pointed to a few yak steaks and a ham. The man smiled and doubled the amount Tumble asked. Tumble looked at the man, feeling guilty for taking so much.

"It seems fair," the butcher explained. "After all, gold is rare here."

"Thank you," Tumble said and was about to walk off before tipping the man with another gold coin. He didn't have time to hear the shouts of joy behind him before a hand shoved him off into an alley and against the side of a house.

It was a girl. Flaxen hair, leather headband, and an alluring mystery of her left eye hidden behind he bangs. She was far from friendly, however, and rammed Tumble again into the wall.

"Who are you and where did you come from?" she threatened.

Tumble went silent in fear, but stuttered as he tried to answer.

"T-Tumble McF-Fadden," he stuttered.

"Well, Tumble," the girl interrogated. "Where are you from and why are you here?"

"I-I don't know how I got here," said Tumble. "I just woke up in Hiccup's house after passing out!"

"A likely story," the girl spat. "What's your real reason?"

Tumble stuttered, but he couldn't form the words. The girl glared into Tumble's eyes and was about to lay a fist into Tumble, but was interrupted by Toothless. The girl looked surprised by the sight of the night fury, but not afraid.

"What's wrong Toothless?" she asked in concern. Toothless brushed past her and nudged at Tumble. Confused, Tumble looked at Toothless uselessly. "He's trying to tell you something. I think... Where's Hiccup?" The pleading look on Toothless's face made her stomach tighten.

Toothless bit Tumble's shirt and pulled him. He let go and darted out of the alley, pausing only to see if the boy was going to follow. Tumble hesitated, but followed Toothless out of concern for Hiccup. The girl followed them with probably more concern than Tumble.  
They reached the forest and found Hiccup struggling with Aster. They were in a large flower bed that spiraled from the center, and at the center was Aster with Hiccup caught in between the talons of the morning glory.

"Can one of you guys help?" Hiccup pleaded.

The girl moved, but Tumble stopped her. She shrugged him off and pushed him aside, but was taken aback when Toothless held her back by biting her shirt. Her eyes were filled with confusion, but Tumble stepped forward.

Aster hissed at the approaching boy, but held back when he noticed it was Tumble. He turned his anger back to Hiccup, who was both relieved and bewildered.

Tumble ran over to a berry bush nearby and yanked off a branch and ran over to Hiccup. He put it into Hiccup's hand and directed Aster's eyes towards it with a distracting berry. Aster followed the berry to the bush and was confused. Tumble figured he had been too busy snapping at Hiccup that he didn't care what Tumble was doing. The dragon pulled off of Hiccup and took the bush from Hiccup's hands.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Astrid. Tumble," he gasped. "Thank Odin you were here. Toothless couldn't do anything with those talons near my neck."

"Hiccup." Astrid was worried. "What happened that made that dragon lash out at you?"

Hiccup shrugged. "I don't know. I saw Aster and thought it would be a good idea to befriend it. So, we landed here and I approached him. He looked surprised at first, so I tried to reach out for him. Then, out of nowhere, he had me by the neck. Toothless couldn't do anything without slicing my head off, so he flew off and I guess he found you guys."

Tumble tsk'd. "You shouldn't have done that," he said. "Astrid's viciously more territorial than a pack of terrible terrors. Step into his territory, and he expects respect when you come in."

"What," Hiccup said sardonically. "We're supposed to knock and say, 'Hello!'"

"That bush I gave you?" Tumble reminded. "He didn't notice me putting it into your hand.

I had to trick him into thinking you brought a housewarming gift for him."

Astrid thought for a moment. "That's weird. For a dragon."

"Well, how would you like it if someone came into your house and made themselves at home?" Tumble asked.

"I'd have ask them to leave, or I'd kick 'em out myself," Astrid answered with a kick.

"I see you point," Hiccup said. "So, all it takes is an offering?"

The three saw Toothless pass through with a branch of berries. Aster, who had been picking from the last branch, cooed and ignored Toothless as the night fury roamed about.

"See?" Tumble gestured.

"Again, that is so weird." Astrid signed and made some sort of animal call. Stormfly flew in from the village and landed. Astrid mounted her nadder and took off back to the village

"No," Tumble corrected. "That is weird."

"The calls?" Hiccup inquired. "That's for if we're too far away from our dragons."

Tumble mouth an inaudible, 'ah.'

"You okay," he asked Hiccup.

"Who, me? I'm fine. I found myself in worse situations." Hiccup walked over to his dragon and scratched his back. "So, Aster is territorial. But what gets me is why doesn't he breathe fire to protect himself? Why go through the trouble of chasing and attacking directly?"

Hiccup knew Tumble's silence was intentional. The boy still didn't want to open up. Tumble busied himself with inspecting Aster's body for lesions or cuts before dropping the sack of yak steak beside Aster. Hiccup plopped down against Toothless and plucked a berry from the bush the dragon still held and dropped it into his mouth.

"You know, don't you?" Hiccup pressed. "I'm not gonna ask, but you know more than you're willing to tell us." Tumble's movements paused for a moment. "But just so you know, none of us can really trust you until you open up. We can't read minds, Tumble."

Tumble's eyes fell and focused on a long gash on the line of Aster's jaw. It was a disgusting wound, but it was healed over and scarred. Hiccup's advice reminded him of the time he had to save Seamus, how the Bonehead second-in-command nearly died because he couldn't be trusted or believed in. But he pushed the memory back into his mind. Thinking of Seamus brought back the memory of the fog.

"Well?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, what?" Tumble snapped. "Just what do you expect from me? I lost my family, my friends, and even my enemies! I've lost everything that was so close to me in just one moment of fire! Just that one moment, and everything went to ash!"

Hiccup jolted back, causing Toothless to check if the boy was alright. Hiccup didn't expect Tumble to suddenly yell like that, not with his timid voice.

"In one night, my entire island was under attack by vikings who shouldn't have been able to get there! In one night, my dragons went missing and I didn't know what to do! My mother and my father went into battle against them, but I was forced onto a ship with what's left of my clan! I had to watch my home be scorched to the ground, to watch every dragon fall right from the sky and rise from the sea! It was a nightmare!

"And then there was that dragon! That beast that attacked us in the fog! I've never seen anything like it. It... I-It was a titan that destroyed everything! Everything turned to ash."

Hiccup fell silent as Tumble began to slowly break down. Tears fell from his chin, and his words hiccuped and broke. Hiccup couldn't copmrehend anything after that, but looked away in guilt. He saw a pair of tiny feet near the trees, and unexpectedly, it was Gothi who came up to Tumble. Aster saw her, and once he did, she rolled an apple over to him. She put a finger to her lip, and the dragon complied.

She approached Tumble and raised a small bowl she was holding. She silently offered it to Tumble, who held a look of bewilderment. She insisted, and Tumble sadly took the bowl and downed the contents like a jar of whiskey. He gagged, but she rubbed his back and urged him to keep drinking. When he was done, she took the bowl from him.

Tumble felt relaxed and his quickened breathing began to return to a normal pace. Aster nudged Tumble to see if he really was okay, and once Tumble patted his nose, he returned to playing with the bush, its fruit all consumed.

Gothi looked at Hiccup and bowed her head before walking back towards the village.

"I'll take you back, Gothi," Hiccup offered, but the village elder politely refused. She pointed to Tumble and made a sleeping gesture, and the boy understood. The elder disappeared into the trees as Hiccup help Tumble onto Toothless.

Gothi found her way though the forest. Deep within it was a sactuary long abandoned since the first generation of Berk settlers. Totems were strewn about, but vaguely formed what was once a ritual ground. Gothi never thought she would have to come here, but the winds forebode something terrible.

"Welcome, Elder," a rasped breeze whispered.

Gothi looked around and knew that this was mysticism far beyond her power. Whoever this voice was, it wasn't a Viking.

"You look unsettled. Shall I introduce myself?" Gothi rolled her eyes and waited. He was going to do it anyways, she assumed. "I am Matheus, Chief of the Dragon Slayer Clan. You, my endearing old goat, are the village elder, am I correct?"

She scrawled onto a loose patch of dirt. The voice chuckled.

"Ah, so you've never heard of us? So, allow me to enlighten you." The voice disappeared with a gale of wind.

The eyes of each viking totem began to glow eerily, and the ground began to shift. Gothi held her ground, unafraid and in anticipation. She blinked once and was thrusted into a vision.

She was above an island surrounded by fog, yet completely untouched by it. It was heavily populated by dragons, and villages at various points of the island were constantly hurling arrows and boulders in attack. A quiver passed through the elder's aetherized body, and the elder felt only a cold chill run through her spine. She did not like this island.  
The vision focused in on one particular man. Large, valiant, and intimidating, this man sat in a throneroom inside the island's Grand Hall. Before him was a boy that Gothi had just seen that day: Tumble. Ther was no one else in the wide throne room but them. The man stood and pulled a book out of his cloak and presented the book to Tumble like a sacred tome.

Gothi watched in interest as she wondered what was in that book. But before the vision could go on any further, it fast forwarded to the next morn, and her ears went numb as a horn blared wildly throughout the island. She found herself in a watchtower and what she saw somehwat horrified her. Through every inch of the fog, ships sailed towards the island. Row after row, the island became surrounded. The overtaking of an island was something to awe, but this sight was more than just a simple take over.

The vision began to flash between scene after scene of vicious battle between vikings, and between viking and dragon riders. However, the last frames she saw introduced her to something she had not expected: a powerful potion that could down a dragon by just the smell, leaving it and the rider open to attack.

Gothi jammed her staff into the vision, breaking through the mana. She wrote out her thoughts, and the voice answered. When her staff left the cracks, it quickly disappeared.

"The dragons were exposed to one of my elixirs. It was something I made in my youth to aid me in defense against dragons. It was truly and exhilirating feeling. I realized what I had created: a potion that could paralyze a dragon with just a whiff!"

Gothi broke through the vision again and wrote. _Who won this battle, Matheus?_

"Isn't it obvious who won?"

Gothi refused to have that as an answer.

_Who. Won?_

Matheus sighed. "My, aren't we the irritated spinster? If you insist," he said in a bored tone. "It was Odrich the Ominous, chief of the Bonehead Clan, the reigning Clan of Blackmoon Island."

_How did Odrich win? Was it that book?_

"Your perception is keener than most senile elders," Matheus gave out. "But you missed it. Odrich won because two other things escaped me: His son and several dragons. No dragon leaves me. All are supposed to fall and die by my power! And those dragons were a testament to that!"

_What is in that book?_

Matheus gave a hoarse laugh and ended the vision, disorienting the old woman from the suddenness.

"You wish to know? That book contains information on the dragons that I seek! Their weaknesses, how to tame them, and even where they reside! If have that book, I can kill every dragon in this world! Because that boy has it, I can't possibly hope to know."

Gothi wondered if this book was similar to the village's book of dragons. But, her troubled expression caught the entity's attention.

"What's the matter, old goat? Don't tell me Berk is a dragon sentamentalist, just like Odrich and his son are?"

Gothi said nothing and looked defiant in the air around her.

"For a small old crone, you sure look stubborn. I'll give you a proposition: Hand me the dragons, and I will not send my forces out make you hand them to me."

Gothi wrote no more and only stared into the air with a disappoving gaze. Suddenly, a different wind whispered into her ear and told of prophecy. She wrote into the dirt one last time before leaving the grounds.

_ Your ambition shall be your death, Matheus, and your weapon the blade that will end it._

As she left, the wind howled like an arrogant laugh, defying her words with a cold front.


	4. Tumble's Troubles

How's the story so far? I know I've done a lot of rewriting and such, but I wasn't satisfied with Tumble or Aster in my original model. Too stiff and too clumped with background; there just wasn't any development. Hope you guys are enjoying the story.

Disclaimer: Dragons and How to Train Your Dragon are both properties of Dreamwork's Studio. I own only my OC's.

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Chapter 4:

Matheus cackled as he looked through his orb. The old crone's words were amusing, but Matheus had built his empire far too large to give up now. He almost accomplished his goal: To bring about the extinction of dragons. The only thing stopping him was that book and its contents.

There was a knock on the front door, and Matheus calmed himself. "Who is it?" he said tersely.

"It's Samr," a voice greeted from the other side.

He straightened his hair and recomposed his posture. The opened the door and greeted his guest with an amiable smile. Samr stepped inside, his ginger hair jut missing the top of the doorframe. He and Matheus stood shoulder to shoulder, but while one was a viking, the other was also a norse sayer.

"How are your... studies?" Samr asked. There was a tinge of discomfort behind his words as he mentioned Matheus's findings.

"Just fine, thank you," Matheus replied. He offered Samr a seat and returned to the fire pit in the center of the room. A cauldron hung just above it, bubbling something with a vile odor. This was the elixir Matheus concocted, and it was the only thing the men of this clan will never stand to smell, nor understand why it smelled like aged corpses brewing in vinegar.

Matheus threw in a bushel of fireweed, dragon nip as most would call it. The cauldron gave off a green glow and a menacing cloud erupted from its mouth.

"How do you do that?" Samr asked in wonder.

"Dragon nip and blue oleander, my old friend. These two alone are enough to down a dragon. The nip attracts the dragon with a smell they just can't refuse, and the oleander paralyzes them with sickness. The result is a dragon open for the kill."

Samr's mouth hung open, but applauded Matheus for his genius.

"Marvelous, Matheus. Simply Marvelous!" Samr stood from his seat and walked around the cauldron with his nose turned up. "But... why does it smell so..."

"To us, it is a smell of death. But to the dragons, it is the smell of sweet ecstacy."

The dark undertone of the soothsayer's voice was enough to send chills down Samr's spine. The viking wandered around, looking at various objects on the shelves. There was one that caught his attention: an open jar.

"What is this?" asked the viking.

"Nothing," Matheus said all too quickly. "It was just some ointment to relieve me of that bloody scar."

"Ah, so you still want to forget that duel with that white dragon?"

Matheus shot a glare at Samr, who realized he said too much.

There were rumors around the clan of how Matheus sought the extinction of dragons. One told of when the man was just a lad, and Matheus had just been sent out to kill his first dragon. As most boys were, he were more than willing to jump out and stab the dragon relentlessly. He had his sword and shield at the ready for a fire, but what he didn't expect was for a dragon to run up to not blast his face with searing fire, but to nearly kill him by slicing through his stomach. Matheus nearly died, but he survived. Another told of him as a seafarer, and how a dragon of Odin fell from the heavens and lunged into Matheus full force with claws sharp as steel. There were many tales, but all had the same element: A dragon who harmed him not with fire, but with speed. Whatever the experience was, it had traumatized him enough to want to end the existence of all dragons.

"You have overstayed you welcome, Samr," Matheus said coldly. "Please leave."

Samr said no more and left. Once the doors were closed, he looked down and eyed the jar carefully. There was a single leaf inside, whole and untouched.

He walked through the village, greeting every viking he passed. Ever since the overtake of the island, the Dragonslayers made Blackmoon their permanent residence. Blacksmiths, bakers, farmers, and even the musicians were all a part of the clan, a mass of nearly one hundred thousand men.

He walked through the lanes of the large port town until he came upon the prison deep within the village. Guards saluted Samr as he passed and allowed him to walk in. Matheus had guards posted throughout the prison, all to protect a single prisoner of war: the great Odrich the Ominous.

The door to the cell was guarded by the last pair of guards.

"May I help you, Samr?" one of the guard asked.

"I have to speak with the prisoner," Samr requested.

"I'm sorry, sir, but were under orders to not let anyone thr-"

"And you are now under orders to let me through."

The guards were conflicted, but allowed him passage. The cell was a dungeon, a long, winding stairwell that led deep into the island's core. Cells lined the well all the way down until there was only but one flight of stairs that led to an isolated cell that served as Odrich's current residence.

The former Bonehead chief sat on the floor staring at a crack on the far end of the cobblestone wall. Out of anger, the viking chief had punched the walls when he heard of his wife's capture and plans to use her as "entertainment." For days, he raged in his cell until his mind broke. He had been staring at the crack ever since.

Samr cleared his throat and knocked on the cell bars to further emphasize his presence. Odrich gave no response. There was a look of remorse on Samr's face, and a look of absolutely nothing on the prisoner's.

"I can free you," Samr offered. "I think... your son still lives."

"My son!" Odrich's voice erupted through the cell and the bars rattled as Odrich reached out `to grab Samr by the collar. He failed. "Where is my son? What have you done to him?!"

"He escaped. Thankfully." Samr backed away to slip out of Odrich's reach. "He rode on a shooting star that was struck by one of our catapults. It wasn't enough to stop him."

"Where is he?" demanded Odrich.

"I don't know. But he headed West."

"What of my wife?" he begged. "She must know of her our child!"

Samr averted eye contact and thought of how to break down the news.

"She died from illness, Odrich. I'm sorry."

At that moment, Odrich's rave turned into silence. His mind stormed, and tried to refuse to believe it, but the look on Samr's face was hard to distrust. He felt he was telling the truth, and he felt his true love was truly gone.

"I'm so sorry, Odrich," Samr repeated softer.

"Please, I beg of you. Let me see my son."

"I can't. The time isn't right. I still-"

"Let me see my son!" Odrich demanded in a roar.

Samr's eyes narrowed and left the cell, ignoring Odrich's relentless pleas. The guards opened the door and barely heard Odrich's voice from below. The were about to go down, but Samr stopped them.

"Leave him," he ordered. "He'll only shout madness."

The guards undestood and returned to their straight postures.

As Hiccup flew through the evening, Tumble had fallen asleep on his back. When they returned to his home, Stoick was there to greet them from the table.

"Everything alright, son?" he asked as he sipped from his mug. He saw Tumble limp around his son's shoulders.

Hiccup looked at his father sadly and helped Tumble into his bed and pulled the overs over him. Toothless flew in through the hole and watched as Tumble. It was heavy and sad.

Hiccup returned downstairs and sat with his father at the table.

"I know how Tumble got here," Hiccup said.

"You do?" Stoick asked pleasantly, but Hiccup's frown gravitated the mood.

"How?"

"He was escaping an invasion, and was attacked by a dragon in a fog."  
Stoick listened, but was still confused.

"He lost his people, Dad. Everyone he ever cared about. His family, his friends, and even his enemies, he said!"

"That's... a poor shame," Stoick found himself saying.

"He saw everyone die right in front of him. And it's because of those invaders and a dragon."

"What kind of dragon was it?" Stoick asked.

Hiccup paused and wondered how to phrase it. "One that we never wanted to see again."

Stoick was lost in translation, but one word began to click into his mind. Fog. There was only one dragon he concerned himself with that involved fog.

"The Red Death."

Hiccup sighed and buried his head in his hands.

"What do we do, Dad? I don't know if he's telling the whole truth."

"He'll speak when he's ready, son."

The two sat in silence before a gentle hearth. Toothless huddled in the corner where Hiccup slept lately and gave a satisfied sound before drifting of to sleep.  
Stoicked chuckled. "I see a lot him in you, Hiccup."

"W-what?" Hiccup denied. "I don't stutter and I don't close myself off from everyone!"

Stoick smiled at his son. "That wasn't what I meant. He left that journal of his here when the two of you left. I think you should read it."

Stoick slid a book across the table towards his son. Hiccup looked at it and actually took note of the cover. It was a skull insignia with dragon horns emblazoned like a crown. There were runes below it: "McFadden".

Stoick stood from his table and walked towards the door.

"I'll be sleeping at Gobber's again tonight. You know where to find me if something goes awry."

Hiccup nodded and already busied himself with skimming the pages of the book. The first part were all journal entries of Odrich's encounters with dragons. The beginning told only of three dragons that came up insistently in other entries. Then, there was Tumble's birth and how Aster crashed on his island.

This part was interesting because it had an omen foretold by their village elder: All you love will perish before you, but hold on to what is left and the future is saved. Hiccup wondered what that meant, but read on. There were other encounters, battles fought with dragons against other rogue dragons, and Tumble's childhood. When he read the article that told of how Odrich planned to give the journal to Tumble, that was all that written.

The next pages were of drawings of various dragons. They were masterfully drawn and in great detail. The first was of a gronkle and notes on how to condition it's hide to withstand even a catapulted rock. The next dragon was a zippleback and its various uses to use each of it's head separately, such as in case of a shroud cover or setting something aflame in the gas without unnecessary explosions. Interestingly enough, a skrill was next. Hiccup took a moment to admire how Tumble managed to get near an elusive dragon like the skrill. The were notes all over the place, indicating Tumble had spent a valued time with this guy. Tumble even had notes on terrible terrors. But these notes were acrobatic, not combative, Hiccup noted. The rest were basic knowledge of baby dragons and mating rituals, much to Hiccup's shameful curiosity.

Hiccup read the notes and was intrigued by how closely Tumble had studied these dragons. For Bork, the fanatic author of the Berk's Book of Dragons, it had taken him his entire life. But Tumble, having been taming dragons since he was small, was close enough to these dragons to be able to study them thoroughly. Not even Bork had information on dragon mating rituals.

Near the end, there was one article on Aster. In bold script near the bottom, Tumble had noted, "no longer breathes fire." Hiccup read the other notes, but before he could finish, the book was swiped out of his hands.

"What are you doing with my book?" Tumble demanded. "How did you even get it?"

"You dropped it, wise guy," Hiccup bit back.

Tumble looked betrayed and stormed out the door. Hiccup called after him, but was ignored thoroughly. On his way out, he almost tripped over an old woman who scuttling her way through the village. It was the village elder.  
Gothi looked up and her face brighened when she saw tumble, and brightened more so when she saw the book. She pulled on the hem of Tumble's shirt, but he was confused whether or not to follow. He heard Hiccup running up to them, and he decided to follow.

"Where are you going?" Hiccup asked.

Gothi paused and motioned for Hiccup to follow her, much to Tumble's annoyance.

They reached a small house, and Hiccup explained it was Gobber's house. Gothi knocked on the door loudly with the top of her staff. When Gobber's voice echoed tiredly from inside, Gothi knocked even louder. In midst of her knocking, she accidenally bash Gobber a few times as he opened the door.

"Why, good evening, Gothi," the blacksmith seethed. He saw Tumble and Hiccup behind her and invited them all inside. He poked his forehead and flinched when he felt the bruing bump. "What brings the lot of you here?"

Gothi spread out a piece of parchment and began writing. Gobber looked at the lines and translated it to the boys. "We need to know what is in that book the boy holds, she says." Gobber saw Tumble's book and held out a hand. "Hand it over," he ordered.

Tumble held the book tightly in his arms.

"I thought you said only when I was ready!" Tumble whined.

Gobber looked down at Gothi's runes and conveyed, "'Something changed. Something dire. And we need to know.'"

Gobber sighed and reached to snatch it out of his arms, but Gothi slapped his hand away and wrote more. Gobber read it and shrugged.

"Never mind then. If it was the last things father gave him before he went off to die, then I think he deserves to keep it close."

Tumble sighed in relief.

"That was a gift from your dad?"

Tumble leered at Hiccup. "We held a private coming of age ceremony the day before were invaded," Tumble explained. "It's the only thing to remind me of him now."

Hiccup couldn't help but feel empathetic.

Gothi began writing, and Gobber translated every word.

"You know of the Dragon Slayers, correct?" Gothi asked in writing.

Tumble paused, and wondered how she knew, not only of the Slayers, but of the book being a gift.

"I see your troubled gaze, boy, but I haven't read its contents. I was made aware of it by a man named Matheus, chief of the Dragon Slayers."

"He's here?" Tumble's eyes shot open and his heart all but stopped.

"His voice was carried by an ominous wind. And he has a weapon that will kill dragons if smelled."

Hiccup was stunned. He never heard of such a thing. "What kind of weapon is it," he asked.

Gothi wrote a long paragraph of an explanation before scratching it out. She wrote a more simple answer: "It's an elixer. The boy will explain more."

"No!" Tumble refused. "I- I can't."

"Why can't you?" Hiccup asked.

"Now, Hiccup," Gobber intevened. "The lad must have his reasons."

Tumble silently thanked Gobber, but Gothi wrote more.

"'You must,' she says. 'If you can't then how can we trust you?'"

"Why not you, if you know so much?" Tumble asked defiantly.

"Old woman, feeble hands," the woman wrote and began massaging her hands.

Tumble sighed. He was still reluctant to share his memories, but everyone kept insisting. He wondered where to begin, but his mind refused to go back to the fog.

Gothi pushed Tumble's shoulder back gently, and the boy looked at her as she wrote a lengthy note with a gentle smile, despite her arthritis.

"Oh, this here is a long one," Gobber said as he read it. "You must let let the past cloud your mind. Only then would it clear. And no matter how dangerous the revelation, it only exists to help soothe the scars."

Her words triggered Seamus again, and the scar on Aster's body. The fog penetrated his mind again, and he pushed back.

"Don't force it away," he heard Gobber translate. "Let it come into your thoughts and clear on its own."

Tumble's memory evoked a tauma within him and he began to quake. He heard Gobber say, "Fight through it, lad! Not against it!"

Tumble breathed heavily, but the memories began flowing in. He remembered things he wanted to forget. He remembered the pain and depression he suffered as a little boy. And he remembered Seamus and the battle for Blackmoon Harbor. He remembered a painful past, but also of a warmth that healed his pain. Of a proud father who looked at him with eyes full of hope. Of a loving mother who yearned for his safety. Of the dragon who saved him from a near-death experience that cost the dragon his flame.

Tumble shuddered, but began to calm himself. Stoick walked into the main room and was surprised by the sudden visitors. Hiccup motioned his dad to sit down and to listen. Tumble closed his eyes and gave a deep and calming breath.

"I wasn't the greatest viking, but I wouldn't call myself the weakest. I was teased or bullied as a little kid. My father wasn't very happy how I turrned out, and I didn't know why at the time. Always thought it was because I was the family hiccup. I was picked on a lot because I had a tougher time learning things than everyone else. I learned to walk late. I learned to talk late. Even basic battle commands were a challege. The only thing I managed to learn anything right was dragon training. I loved it.

"While the other viking kids treated me like a rag doll, the dragons were actually pretty open. The first dragon I trained was Graphy, a charcoal-colored gronkle. She was unique and probably the only on of her skin tone. She was a sweetie, like most gronkles tend to be, and she became my best friend. She died a little later from old age and I realized she was older than I thought she was. I was left alone, and my dad was a firm believer in fighting your own battles.

"When I was twelve, I was already out in the ranks, fighting with other clansmen against rivaling villages. We were always at odds with other villages, especially those who wanted to overthrow my father, the chief of the entire island. Blackmoon Harbor was the most important city, since most of the island's fertile soil and best fishing spots were there. It was one of these scuffles that nearly killed me when I tried saving someone else.

"I didn't how, but a skrill managed to find its way onto the island. And skrills weren't native to Blackmoon. It was caught in the midst of the battle and was almost killed. It panicked and went on a rampage. Anyone foolish enough tried to kill it, but was smote by Thor's lightning. I had just learned how to train a monstrous nightmare and thought if something like a monstrous nightmare could be tamed, I could tame a skrill. I chased it around the town with a hope that I could be the first to tame it. I cornered it in an alley, but Seamus, my father's right hand man, was cornered by the skrill, but his nadder was nowhere to be found. The skrill was still panicked and was about to strike at Seamus, but I distracted it long enough by pelting it with rocks to let Seamus escape. The skrill was pissed, no doubt about that. It chased me around the village until it was me who was cornered. I cried for help, but people either didn't hear, or didn't want to hear. I felt completely alone. It wasn't until Aster came and saved me. He fought off the skrill with matched speed. It was a battle between lightning and wind.

"In the end, Aster came out with the skrill in its mouth, but I wasn't the one credited for stopping it. Seamus was the one who told my father that the skrill attacked me and that he was there to slay it. My father believed it, and I was completely crushed. The skrill was still alive, and I kept it safe even after all the trouble it caused. No one ever did apologize or say I was the one who stopped the skrill. Seamus just got a slap on the hand and my father acted like nothing ever happened."

Tumble paused and felt his heart twinge again. He didn't brush away a small hand rubbing his shoulder, and continued.

"Aster, however, suffer a near-fatal gash to his throat. He survived, but his fire sack was completely gone. He was left with broken vocals and no flame. He shouldn't have been able to survive, but the elder who cared for him treated him with a special droog. It was made from the leaves of a special sage bush, but with the poisoning effects of the blue oleander. The elder said the ointment could heal any scar and cure any illness if it was related to dragons. My father thanked him and roared at me for putting Aster in this situation. He never knew why Aster was injured. I was too scared to tell him.

"Months after that, there was another scuffle. This time, it was with the northern port town who wanted to expand their power. My dad took Aesir, his monstrous nightmare, and went into battle. I was forbidden to go. My father feared something else would go wrong. I hated him for that, but couldn't argue the fact that no matter what I did, something was always wrong.

"Days later, we got news my father was in dire need of reinforcements. I jumped on the chance and took Aster with me. In that few months, Aster and I had been trying to get over his lack of fire. Aster was usually the grudging type, but he forgave me, for some reason. It was like I was special. And while we trained, I felt why. Although Aster couldn't breath fire, I could help him with things he normally couldn't. Aster couldn't see everything, so I naturally became his second pair of eyes. Aster devastated the northern port, but like the time before, I held no credit for saving the town. But this time, even my father couldn't deny that I was the one who saved him, who fought in front of him with the very same dragon I injured.

"He talked with me later that day. He told me about Aster, the prophecy, and how disgraceful he saw my birth. My mother of course, resented him for it, but ignored her. The entire village knew I was somehow tied with a great devastation, and I was made an outcast. My father apologized to me about everything he's done. But that wasn't why I hated him. The things he didn't do were what pissed me off. But for some reason, I didn't speak. I couldn't tell him, and I let it fade away. The next day, he gave me his journal, saying he had hopes of one day seeing it become a great tome of wisdom for Blackmoon Island, that one day dragons wouldn't be used as weapons, but as creatures they could live with. And the day after, the Dragon Slayers came."  
Tumble paused, forcing himself to be comfortable with the memory. Gothi watched in sympathy as Tumble struggled with his conflict. The fog was indeed beginning to clear, but it was coming back with full force. She relaxed when Tumble resumed.

"They came out of nowhere, at least that's what the village believed. They somehow managed to get through the Perimeter, the fog that surrounds the island and traps us inside of it. No one can go in without dying. Every ship that tried to leave returned as a pile of burnt rubble. No one knew what was in there, and no Blackmoon viking never dared to face it. So it was a surprise to everyone to see a sea of ships sail through the fog. They were everywhere and there was no escape. The landed at every shore on the island, and killed off most of the people. Dragons and dragon riders tried to fight back, but there was something in the air that made them all literally drop dead. Even Aster was affected. The elder managed to slip the last of his ointment inside of Aster's mouth before being impaled by an invader's sword. Aster fought back and helped me find the others seeking a ship. We managed to board an unguarded ship on the docks and pushed off as if we were one of them."

Gothi felt the fog in his mind grow cloudier, and anticipated what concludes his story. Tumble began to shed tears as he tried to calm himself.

"We reached the fog. It was thick, and it smelled like something was burning. We were completely lost inside, but we tried to sail a straight path. Then it came. It was a mountainous giant that turned the tides as it stepped, and had the bellow as deep as the sea. In breath, it turned out ship to ashes. I became separated from everyone after I jumped overboard. I looked around and saw their shadows in the fog. I... I heard Seamus and Half-Ear, and I tried to follow them. But I saw it coming. The fire! I saw the firing sparking, and I should have warned them. My voice was stuck in my throat and I couldn't tell them to dive! Dive! For the love of Odin, dive! But it was too late. They were turned to ashes. Because of me, the last people I'd ever see are dead! Because of me!"

Hiccup's comforting rub became a one-armed hug around Tumble's shoulders.

Gobber and Stoick looked at the teen with sadness in their eyes. Stoick felt empathetic towards the boy, and never thought that he would have to suffer such trauma.

"I am so sorry," Stoick said. "But you and I both know there wasn't anymore you could have done."

"But, I could have told them," Tumble murmured.

"Even if you did," Hiccup pointed out, "it wouldn't have changed anything. Who would Aster save even if you did tell them to dive? He'd still save you. He can't save everyone."

Tumble never thought of that.

"Lad's been through tough times," Gobber murmured. "But, we all have. And we're still alive to tell the tale. Even if we made mistakes in the past, it is jus' that what makes us who we are now."

Gothi nodded agreeably and wrote a little more.

"Your mind is still clouded with self-doubt, but you'll soon find your way out of the fog. Just don't let the light that guided you out of the fog the first time go out as you try to guide yourself out of it again."

Everyone's mind drew a blank at that one, but she smiled knowingly at Tumble, who seemed to have at least marginally understood her riddle. She wrote something that Gobber read, and immediately detached his hook in favor of a prosthetic charcoal hand. He tore out a paper from a random book and began copying the message Gothi wrote. He folded it and gave it Tumble.

"She says not to open it until morning," Gobber instructed.

She left the house and bowed to everyone as she departed. Gobber saw the boys out the door, and bade them a good night.

The way back was crisp and refreshing. The cold autumn air was relaxing against Tumble's stinging eyes, but when he looked up, he just stared at the stars above.

"Aster's supposed to be Latin for something, isn't it?" Hiccup asked out of the blue.

Tumble laughed. "I don't know. My dad never taught me Latin."

"I have some Latin scrolls from trader Johann. It said Aster meant, 'star.' Who gave him that name?"

"My dad. The day I was born was something he'd always remember. He found Aster in the sky as he fell into the harbor. He caused quite a stir, but the moment he woke and saw me in my mother's arms, he came up to me... and patted my head."

"And that was the reason your village hated you," he said, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. But even still, Aster's been like a guardian to me."

"He seemed like it. The day you fell on Berk, he was attacking everyone like they wanted to hurt you."

Tumble laughed. "He did the same thing when I collapsed from a fever. He wouldn't let anyone by my father come even a stone's throw away from me."

"You're... a lot like me," Hiccup admitted.

"How?" Tumble asked. "You seem much more capable than I ever was."

"Well, you may be right about that, but I was a mess-up like you were. I was trying to find my place in the village - y'know, be like all the other vikings. It wasn't until I met Toothless that I figured out I don't have to be big or tough. I just needed a friend to stand by my side and trust in me. Toothless gave just that." Hiccup put an assuring hand on Tumble's shoulder. "I think Aster's the dragon that you can trust will trust you back and never leave you behind."

Tumble felt the tears well up in his eye and struggled to hold it back.

"Thanks, Hiccup," Tumble thought. His mouth moved, but the words didn't pass his lips.

"What was that?" Hiccup said. "Dude, we can't read your mind. You have to speak up. Don't you trust yourself to speak?"

Tumble finally understood what it was he was doing wrong. He hated himself. He hated himself because others hated how he is. There was a melancholy in his heart, but he slowly realized that he hated himself so much, he believed like they believed that he was the scum of the earth. But Hiccup. Gothi. Even Aster. They all believed he could change that. Rather, he was never any of that to begin with.

Hiccup saw Tumble relax and smile smally.

"I think you're finally starting to come around," Hiccup said.


	5. Memories and Messages

Sorry for the long wait. I just got hired these last two weeks and boy, being a CNA for an elderly behavioral facility is taxing. So, as an apology for the brief hiatus, here's a short filler before I resume the next chapter to my story. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Dreamwork's owns Dragons and How to Train Your Dragon. I own my OC's and the plot line.

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Chapter 5:

Tumble's memories plagued his dreams again. A dense and heavy fog rolled in, shrouded his thoughts and blinded his senses. Tumble feared he was in the Perimeter again, but dreamt his feet touched not the boarded flooring of a seafaring vessel, but the familiar cobblestone paths of his old hometown. Yes, he remembered this fog well and it wasn't a particularly pleasant memory.  
The fog began to thin and it gave way to a familiar crowded view of Blackmoon Harbor. Tumble dreamt he stood at the port, where massive ships that towered high over him were docked. Ironic, since these ships were left derelict since the Perimeter formed long before Tumble was born.

He heard Half-Ear's gruff and low voice in the distance calling his name, shouting something distorted by forgotten memories. When Tumble didn't respond, Half-Ear stormed off in a huff.

Tumble was well aware this was a dream, but this was more than a simple memory. He knew this because there was a cloaked person he did not recognize that stood out from the crowd. Tall, well-aged, and charismatic in visage. The old man he saw was not of the Bonehead Clan in any shape or form. No, this man was someone far more intelligent and far more deadly. This man had a fearsome grin splayed across his face that forebode a grim future.

"Pleasant dreams, Tumble?" the man sang in a politely acidic tone. His voice was a rasp, but it held its clear and definite sound. "Or would you rather be called Odrich, Odrich II, Hiccup? Or how about the name others call you: Omen?"

Tumble felt his heart shrink when he heard the name, "Omen."  
The man chuckled and stroked his long, thick greying beard. "You think this is a dream, correct?"

"Of course it is!" Tumble replied. It sounded desperate, and Tumble felt his hands growing clammy. "I should be asleep on Berk."

"This isn't a dream," the man explained. "You're awake in your mind. And I am here imposing myself on it. I am Matheus, Chief of the Dragon Slayers, and I have come to collect what should be in my possession!"  
Tumble honed in on the name, effectively ignoring the rest of the man's introduction.

"I know who you are. Seamus warned me about you. You're the chief of the invaders that took over my island and slaughtered my people. You're the monster who took my father and my mother's life. You're the devil who killed almost every dragon on Blackmoon and Odin knows where else."  
Tumble's voice grew deeper and darker as he spoke, but Matheus was undeterred by the pointing words of a brat. He only smiled, taking each of his deeds as a testament to his power.

"I applaud you knew so much. But do you know how I could have killed so many dragons?"

"An elixir, if I heard right."

Matheus's grin fell and pulled a small bulbous glass bottle from his cloak. It was filled with a bright green liquid seal inside by a cork. Matheus removed the cork and Tumble could smell the putrid odor from a distance.

The dream went dark. The Perimeter around them whirled like a great hurricane. The clouds domed over the island and greyed the light. A gastric green light seeped from the mouth of Matheus's bottle and bathed the sky. Tumble couldn't smell the odor very well, but he was certain this was the very smell that filled the air the day of the invasion.

Tumble heard the distinct cries of many dragons, more shocking the dragons he knew very well. Up above, he could see a shooting star through the fog and recognized the pained hoarse cries of his dragon as it fell like a fallen grace from the heavens.

Tumble was in pure horror to see that Aster was going to die in his dreams.

"Give me your dragons and two very particular books: Your father's journal and that boy's 'Book of Dragons.' Do me this one favor and I will spare your lives as well as your father's."

Tumble's eyes widened and let the mortifying image before him turn blank. It was a strange sight for Matheus. It was not just darkness. It was pure white, as if instead of standing in the midst of chaos, they were floating in the midst of clouds.

"My dad is still alive?" Tumble asked.

Matheus didn't answer, only reveled in the thought of Tumble completely obliterating his control over the boy's dreams. How Tumble did it was far beyond him. He looked at the boy and saw something that he wanted to destroy - Hope. Matheus felt his blood boil at the hope the boy displayed and how that very same hope made him powerless.

"I will kill your father if you don't do as I say, Omen," Matheus warned lowly.

"You won't," Tumble contradicted. There was a tinge of confidence in his voice. Matheus felt uncomfortable just listening to him.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because if you want this book, you won't kill him. Whatever is in this book is something you want. No one else but you knows about it, but trust me, we will find out what it is."

"You have the gall to stand up to me?" Matheus roared. "What can a hiccup- a-an Omen like you possibly do?"

Tumble smiled brightly and innocently and simply said, "I can just be what I am - an 'Omen.' It's the very least a useless hiccup like me can do."

Matheus gave a frustrated yell and let loose a spell reminiscent to a dragon's breath before Tumble let the dream fade away as he woke.

Toothless's curious face hovered over him in wonder. Tumble let his hand gently rub the dragon's chin and stood up in a newfound confidence. The dream, be it a real message from the Dragon Slayer or something that could help him believe in himself again, was a good sign. As grim as the dream was, and however dangerous the man believed he was, it was an omen for the dragon slayers' defeat.


	6. Racing Dragons

Here is Chapter 6. Finally. Well, all I have to say about this is that it could have been uploaded sooner... Chapters 7 and 8 will be coming up at the same time, so expect a little wait.

Disclaimer (I'm getting too damned lazy to write this): I don't own Dreamwork's Dragons or How to Train Your Dragon. I only own my OC's and the plotline.

Enjoy the story!

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Chapter 6:

Matheus paced around his home with worry visible in every line of his scowling face. He felt a strange disturbance after invading the boy's mind, and he wondered how the boy could have broken his magic so easily. Hope was not that strong.

Matheus's thoughts made him deaf to the knockings at his door. The door swung open, surprising Matheus out of his thoughts.

"GET OUT!" he roared.

Samr jumped at the sudden shouts from his superior, but imposed himself into the home anyway. Matheus's scowl deepened, but he let the Southern chief do as he pleased. Samr watched as the Dragon Slayer chief paced to and fro, digging through cabinets and throwing everything he found useless haphazardly behind him. Samr avoided the shattering glass bottles and suspicious concoctions as they were hurdled toward him. Samr inhaled and mustered the courage to finally ask something.

"Is something the matter?" Samr asked. He shifted backwards a slight when Matheus's angered gaze pierced Samr.

"We need that book. Fast. If that boy finds out what it is I want, then our clan is doomed to die at the hands of the dragons!" Matheus hissed and rammed a heavy fist against the wooden counter. "How can we leave this island? It was a miracle we survived the fog."

"About that," Samr interrupted. "It seems the fog is shifting."

Matheus seemed confused at Samr's report. "Shifting? How is the fog shifting? We've been here for weeks and the fog had barely moved an inch."

"Come look outside."

Matheus followed Samr out the door and they didn't have to travel far to seethe spectacle before them. The towering fog stood before them like a watchful sentinel, and it was indeed shifting. It was swirling and swaying to and fro like a strong wind. Fire lit up at random points of the fog, and roars could be heard even from their distance. It was like the fog itself was a living, breathing thing.

"By Odin's might, what am I looking at?" Matheus gasped.

"Smothering smokebreaths," Samr answered. "Apparently the Perimeter the locals feared was actually a massive smokebreath nesting ground. And at its center is some sort of behemoth that could destroy anything that goes through the fog."

Matheus's eyes lit up and his nostrils flared. Samr recognized this sight; it was the same expression Matheus held the day he learned several dragons escaped him alive.

"Kill them all," Matheus rasped.

Samr was astonished at the command. "There must at least a hundred thousand of them!"

Matheus gave the other chief a sharp slap across the face. His palm stung Samr's cheeks and Samr felt the harshness in both pain and words. He bowed before his superior and went away to relay the command.

Within the hour, ships set sail and catapults were launched. The air that had been cleared of the repulsive scent of Matheus's mysterious elixir had once again been made unbreathable for dragons. However, Matheus's rage only grew as he saw that there were far too many dragons to down. The smokebreaths' numbers wer hardly marred and the fog continued to move.

Matheus gave a carnal cry and began to thrash about violently. Samr kept his distance and watched the other punch large walls into the side of his wooden home.

Why is Matheus so intent on killing every dragon in this world, and why did the hidden nest of dragons just now decide to move? These were the two thoughts that danced inside of Samr's head. He decided now was the time to act and left Matheus to his rave. It was time to let Odrich go.

Hiccup only stared at the strange smile on Tumble's face. It was a nice and simple smile, but on Tumble, who rarely smiled at all, it was different.

Tumble sat across from Hiccup and Stoick at the table, eating a freshly made bowl of fish stew Stoick prepared early that morning. Even as he ate, the smile didn't fade.

"Is everything alright?" Stoick asked.

Tumble's attention seemed distracted by the soup. A few seconds passed before

Tumble realized Stoick was speaking to him.

"Oh! I'm sorry. Yes, I'm fine," he spluttered. "I was just thinking, is all."

Stoick gave a soft, "Ah," before eating his own bowl of soup.

Hiccup noticed the odd bounce in Tumble's step as he strolled through the village. Tumble greeted everyone warmly and began to browse through the merchants' wares.

"You looking for something?" Hiccup asked.

"Nothing much," Tumble said. "I just wished there was a little more variety here."

"Well," Hiccup said slowly to draw Tumble's attention. "Trader Johann will be sailing here sometime this week. He'll have a lot more stuff for you to look through."

Tumble's eyes brightened and his smile became toothy.

"Great! I'll be expecting him, then!"

Hiccup felt there must be something going on. As they headed into the forest towards the flower grove, he stopped Tumble.

"What's going on?" Hiccup asked. "You seem... upbeat today."

Tumble laughed "Is that a bad thing?"

That caught Hiccup by surprise. "It's definitely different."

"Well, if you want to know," Tumble said as he continued towards the grove, "I had a dream."

"A dream?"

Tumble paused. He wasn't sure if he should tell Hiccup. It was a little embarrassing to tell him he dreamed of standing up to the leader of the Dragon Slayers. What would he say? Would Hiccup find Tumble weird? Tumble inhaled and marched on.

"Yeah, a dream," Tumble continued. "It was a good one, I think."

Hiccup wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he chose to let it go. At the very least, Tumble seemed to be at his happiest since he came to the island. He thought he could use this to be better friends with him and to befriend the others.

A familiar grunt nearby caught Hiccup's attention. Before he could even turn, he was pounced on from behind by Toothless. Hiccup stumbled forward from the overbearing weight of his dragon, but Toothless quickly pushed off from his rider and happily danced around the boys.

"What is it, buddy?" Hiccup cooed at his pet. "You wanna fly? You look like you wanna fly."

Toothless panted happily and unfolded his wings. Hiccup laughed and scratched Toothless all over the place. Hiccup didn't notice Tumble was already ahead of them.

The two followed Tumble towards the grove until they finally reached it. Aster was lounging in the center of the flowerbed, coiled comfortably into itself. When Tumble approached him, Aster looked up and scree'd welcomingly. Tumble smiled and rubbed Aster's back.

"You wanna fly today?" Tumble asked.

Aster shook his head. Instead, Aster whipped around and began jumping on and against the surround trees. The rusting leaves ruffled and the resting birds flocked away in distress. This was Aster's way of saying, "Combat practice."

Tumble smiled and complied. He looked over and saw Hiccup and Toothless approaching, but he held up his palm and stopped them. "Watch!" he called out, and the two backed up into the trees.

Tumble whistled a distinctive sound. From above, a skrill zipped down from the sky like lightning. Hiccup gave a yelp and was stunned by the sight of seeing a skrill for the first time. It was fast, almost as fast as Toothless. The skrill gave a high-pitched roar and stood ready for a command. Aster gave a strange sound and the skrill looked at him attentively. They exchanged a series of sounds, and if Hiccup didn't know any better, they could have been having a conversation.

"Set and engage," Tumble commanded. It was a strong and sure voice, one Hiccup never heard Tumble use before. The dragons roared and screeched before taking off into the sky. "Try accomplishing a 'Will-o'-the-Wisp'," Tumble shouted.

The skrill moved up into the clouds, out of Hiccup's sight. Inside the clouds, the skrill began zipping in random directions. The motion stired the clouds and Hiccup saw the cloud expand slowly. In minutes, the cloud became thin and large. Aster flew into it and began to stir the clouds a little more. The skrill and Aster was reshaping it into something. It was like a tangled web of snakes.

"What's the the point in that?" Hiccup asked from the trees.

Tumble looked over and pointed up at the cloud. Hiccup nodded.

"That's for an ambush attack in the clouds," Tumble explained. "By turning the clouds into thin strands, Aster can blend in as one of the strands and attack enemy dragons."

Hiccup looked up and realized what he meant. He could easily see the skrill, but Aster was completely camouflage. He looked long and hard, but it took Tumble's guiding hand to figure out which cloud was actually Aster. There was a moving wisp of smoke inside of the clouds.

"He's the 'Will-o'-the-Wisp,'" Tumble said. "This way, he can strike at any direction while confusing the dragon and his rider."

"That's amazing," Hiccup said. "You should teach us how to do something like that? What was it again?"

"Set and engage," Tumble reminded.

Hiccup mounted Toothless. "Come on," he said to Tumble. "I wanna take you somewhere."

Tumble was curious, so he called Aster down and mounted him. The two took off towards the village. Behind them was the skrill. Hiccup pointed down at a large caged arena that Tumble came to see as a kill ring. They landed near the entrance and dismounted their dragons.

"What are we doing here?" Tumble asked out of concern. The arena gave off a foreboding air. Tumble could faint smell of dragon's blood. As clean as the arena was, it was an obvious sign of mindless slaughter.

Hiccup led the black-haired boy and their dragons through the threshold. As the walked deeper inside, the smell grew slightly stronger.

"You're not thinking of-" But Hiccup didn't hear him.

"Welcome to the Berk Dragon Academy," Hiccup announced. All of a sudden, a screeching roar rattled the arena followed by two scorching streams of flame soaring across the end of the threshold. Hiccup walked into the arena and waved a greeting at someone out of Tumble's line of sight. He followed and saw the same girl, Astrid, by a scoreboard along the arena walls.

"Hey, Hiccup," Astrid greeted warmly. She looked over and hardened her gaze at Tumble. "Hey, you." It was a deadpan tone, and Tumble felt slightly uncomfortable.

"His name is Tumble," Hiccup reminded. "And I brought him here to teach us a thing or two."

Astrid's eyes widened in surprise and shot an unreadable look at Tumble.  
A large portly boy ran up towards them. Tumble wondered how the boy could carry himself so well on those skinny legs of his while he ran.

"Who's this?" the boy asked excitedly. "I'm Fishlegs," he waved at Tumble, who shyly waved back.

"I'm Tumble," said boy greeted. "I'm new here."

"Oh!" Fishlegs softly exclaimed. "You're the new kid everyone's talking about!"

"They talk about me?" Tumble felt his gut wrench. "What did they say?"

Fishlegs smiled. "They were mainly talking about your wicked dragon!" He pointed over at Aster. The white dragon drew back once he saw the offending finger. He snarled and returned his attention to the fight.

A monstrous nightmare and a hideous zippleback were having at each other. The nightmare, or Hookfang as his rider called him, was coated in his flame. For Aster, the nightmare showed as much control of his spitfire coat as Aesir. The rider didn't seem bothered by te fire, nor was he set aflame himself. The coat was mainly for show. As for the zippleback, whose two riders named it Barf and Belch, it was simply agitated at the lack of opportunity, but dimwitted to realize its own situation. The zippleback was slowly being cornered. If it cast its gas now, it would explode and knock everyone off their dragons. Aster sat down on the ground and watched diligently at the fight. He heard every screech and roar, and slowly understood what they were feeling, and why.

Aster gave a harsh screech that nearly bled everyone's ears. Tumble looked over, unaffected by shrill and piercing sound. He knew what was up. This was Aster's "coaching" mood.

The zippleback looked over, much to the confusion of the twins riding it. Aster hissed and screeched and began thrashing his head about. Hiccup and Astrid shared a baffled look before questioning Tumble, but the boy only shrugged and gestured for them to watch. Barf and Belch's expressions turned mischievous and Hookfang, not understanding a single exchange between the other two, readied himself for anything.

The nightmare roared and began shooting a steady stream of fire towards the zippleback. The rider expected for the other dragon to swing to the other side where he could ambush them and body slam them out of the air. His face went slack when instead of dodging, Barf and Belch went headstrong towards the stream despite their riders' protests. Just when the fire was about to hit them, the zippleback spun upside dow, narrowly made contact with the fire, and body slammed Hookfang out of the air. The monstrous nightmare crashed onto the ground, all five tons of dragon quaked the ground on impact. Snoutlout was bucked off and slammed against a wall.

Aster's mouth widened into a proud smile. Tumble smiled as well and leaned his body against Aster's. He looked over at Astrid, Hiccup, and Fishlegs with a self-fulfilled look. That was an expression that caught Hiccup off guard.  
"So, you said you needed some training?"

Hiccup looked at Astrid. The girl growled and gave him a hard whack to the shoulder.

"We might as well make us of him," she huffed.

Hiccup, Astrid, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, and Snotlout and their dragons: The night fury, Toothless; the deadly nadder, Stormfly; the hideous zippleback, Barf and Belch; the gronkle, Meatlug; and the monstrous nightmare, Hookfang. These six and their dragons were the veteran dragon riders of Berk. Tumble was dumbfounded by the fact, and questioned that they were also the heroes of the island. Tumble immediately found a group with potential, but after seein the fight with the zippleback and the nightmare, he knew they still had a long ways to go before they were ready for a war.

The group met up at a high cliff, where Tumble decided would be a great place to assess their flying ability. He knew very well how each of them would fly based on their standard statistics alone. But the biggest mystery was Toothless, one of a handful of dragons that few ever saw.

Everyone was ready. Tumble devised a race from three points of the island. From the high cliff off the sourthern shore, the group would make their way west towards the rocky gulf, then make their way north past the glacier, find their way through the underground of the island - which was formed from Tumble's own whispering deaths, Flinch and Leer - and finally return to the starting point.

It was simple enough. Tumble made himself a competitor, which he felt was a little unfair for the other guys. Tumble called it off.

"On you mark!"

The dragons step forward at the edge of the cliff.

"Get set!"

The dragons readied themselves. Aster, however, spun into a tight coil. The others looked at them with odd expressions. Snotlout laughed wondering what was up with Aster.

"I thought this was a race, not a slumber party!" Snotlout scoffed

Astrid felt something was up. Tumble didn't seem like he was playing them for fools. She had Stormfly crouch lower.

Aster crooned arrogantly. Toothless and Hookfang felt the challenge and accepted it.

Tumble inhaled loudly and finally screamed out, "GO!"

Before anyone could even move, a sonic boom nearly pushed the dragons off the cliff. Everyone looked up and saw Tumble and Aster already high above them. They were spinning beautifully and distracted nearly everyone. Hiccup and Toothless wasted no time to get into the race and bounded off the cliff. Astrid and Stormfly followed after. The others however, were caught in a daze. Snotlout, having no interest in the sightshow, tried his damnedest to get his own dragon into the race. Hookfang was too enchanted by the stunning lights Aster's scales displayed as he rose higher and higher. When Aster finally flew laterally towards the western checkpoint, Hookfang finally noticed his rider's screams and shouts. Everyone was shocked by how far behind they've gotten and hurried over the edge of the cliff.

Hiccup gave a confident smirk as he rode Toothless over the waters. Behind him was Astrid and Stormfly. They were fast, but Toothless was faster. Hiccup looked behind him and saw Astrid's concentrated glare. Something twinkled above her, and he heard Tumble's voice whooping. He was far and Hiccup was sure the dragon couldn't catch up to them. He felt a downward shift in the wind and Toothless gave an unsure grunt. Hiccup pulled them up and they gained elevation. As they did, something zoomed above them. It was Aster. Hiccup was awestruck. Toothless veered over to the side to avoid an oncoming cliff.

Aster was already miles ahead of them, and Hiccup's mind was stuck on how. He shifted gears and Toothless gained speed. Astrid was still hot their tail, but her concentration seemed weaker after Tumble's gain ahead of them.

"How did he do that?" Astrid asked loudly.

"I don't know!" Hiccup called back. "But I like where this is going!"

Hiccup tailed after Tumble, and Astrid tailed after Hiccup. They each reach the rocky gulf one by one. Astrid got the lead ahead of Hiccup, but both were still behind Tumble by a solid mile.

The three reached each check point. Hiccup beat Astrid to the second, Astrid beat Hiccup to the fourth, but Tumble was beating them both and was unanimously decided the obvious winner. Hiccup felt the wind pattern shift again, this time upwards and veered Toothless downwards. He noticed something up ahead. Aster was slowing down. When Toothless was neck-to-neck with Aster, Hiccup thought it was going to be a tie, but Aster did something unexpected: He foldered his wings in and bombarded towards the sea. Toothless backed off and tried to dive after Aster and Tumble before they hit the water, but just as Toothless turned, Aster's body swerved over and and back up ahead of Toothless, once again a mile ahead. Aster opened his wings and flew up towards the high cliff and landed with the grace of a queen.

Toothless and Stormfly landed, exhausted and worn. Once their riders dismounted, they flumped over on their backs in heaving gasps. Astrid and Hiccup were stupefied. They looked between their tired dragons and Aster's completely normal state.

"What is he?!" Astrid asked incredulously. "How is he not as tired as them?!"  
Tumble smiled proudly. "As my mother would put it, 'A leaf flies farther than a bird.'"

Astrid was confused and agitated. "What's that supposed to even mean?"

"It means, Aster's much lighter than your dragons. Weight is a big factor in flight. A hummingbird flies faster than a hawk because it's the size of your palm. Aster may be large, but he's light enough for even me to pick him up."  
Tumble put a hand underneath Aster's ribcage and lifted him up. Aster yelped in surprise, but did nothing but snort as Tumble demonstrated his point. Aster walked away once he was let down. Astrid was impressed and gave an approving nodded.

"Ten feet long," Tumble continued, "but he weighs no more than a small box."

"Okay. So he's the fastest dragon on the island-"

"On certain wind conditions," Hiccup reminded all too quickly.

Astrid gave a snort. "Is someone jealous?"

Hiccup's eyes darted between her and Tumble. He huffed and puffed out his chest. "No, I'm just pointing out that under normal wind conditions, Aster is only just as fast as Toothless!"

Toothless grunted concurringly and puffed his chest out as well.

"Whatever," Astrid dismissed. She went over to Stormfly and rubbed her belly.

The nadder gave a soft coo before hopping to her feet. "I'm gonna head back to the village now. If you want to do any other 'assessments', don't be afraid to ask. If it's a competition, then I'm sure we'll want to try it out."

As if on cue, the last four finaly arrived at the cliff in a rush. The dragons landed and their riders looked at Astrid, Hiccup, and Tumble baffled.

"How long were you guys here?" Fishlegs asked.

"Um, two- three minutes?" Hiccup answered.

Astrid stood akimbo. "You guys sure took your time."

"Like we could help it!" Snotlout barked. "Mr. 'Fly-high-in-the-sky' here distracted our dragons!"

Tumble pulled out a small pouch from his pocket. Hiccup thought the guy was going to pay Snotlout with a gold coin or something, but he saw him taking out a string. Tied at its end was one of the coins. Tumble looked over at Hookfang who had his attention drawn to a small flower. Tumble toosed the coin in front of Hookfang. The dragon's attention shifted and followed the coin. Tumble snapped the coin back towards him effectively draw the dragon's attention to him. Tumble took out another pouch and took out a small piece of meat. He tossed it over to Hookfang who grumbled in content.

"What'd you do?" Snotlout asked.

"Monstrous nightmare 101," Tumble said simply. "To gain a distracted nightmare's attention, you gotta distract him with something else. Preferrebly something nondisposable." Tumble tossed the coin over to Snotlout. "And remember to feed him something as a reward for doing well. If you run out of meat, feed him fish!"

Snotlout gave a bored look at the instructions, but looked happily at the shiny coin. Hookfang looked at the coin, too and tried to take it between his teeth. The two wound up having a small fight over the coin.

Hiccup leaned over to Tumble and whispered, "You do know you're talking to the same guy who'd eat all the emergency rations because he missed dinner, right?"

Tumble put a hand to his face and hoped that Snotlout follows his advice. From Hiccup said, the guy was a lost cause.

Fishlegs ran up to Tumble before the black-haired boy mounted Aster.  
"How did you do that back there?" he asked. Tumble saw the eager look in his eyes.

"When?" Tumble asked as he sat along Aster's back.

"That take off you did. That. Was. Amazing!" the boy sang.

Tumble laughed amiably. "Tension and release. It's the same as when your dragons crouch down to jump into the air. Because Aster has such a long body, taking off like your dragons wouldn't be very fast. Coiling downwards allows Aster to muster enough strength to jump into the air."

"Does he naturally do that?" Fishlegs inquired. He was mentally taking notes in his head and looking Aster over. The morning glory shifted uneasily under the boy's scrutiny.

"No," Tumble answered. "Only during competitions. He doesn't need to coil up like that to jump high. Aster just likes to distract his opponents to get the lead."  
Fishlegs paused and shot a look at Tumble. "Isn't that playing dirty?"

Tumble felt himself shrink a little. "Sorry," he muttered.

Fishlegs huffed. "Well, next time, try playing a little more fairly, please?"

Fishlegs continued examining the dragon in front of him. They were beautiful white scales that looked like shark's teeth, pointed and broad. He saw plenty of small scars along the dragon's body, but when he saw the large offending wound just beneath Aster's jawline, Fishlegs recoiled and felt a strange sense of respect for the dragon. A wound as large as Fishleg's arm in such a critical place deserves a Medal of Honor.

Hiccup mounted Toothless and he and Astrid bid the rest of the gang farewell.

The twins took off shortly after, leaving only Fishlegs and Tumble to talk about Aster.

"Well, I gotta go," Fishlegs said finally. "My mom's making dinner. Can't be late, you know?"

Tumble smiled. "Go on. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Fishlegs mounted his gronkle, waved a friendly goodbye to Tumble, and took off back towards the village.

Aster coiled and bounded skyward. The dragon gave a long, solemn grunt and shifted his eyes briefly at Tumble. Tumble rubbed the nape of Aster's neck to reassure his dragon. He felt that the dream he had the night before was a sign. Even with the distraction of the race, he couldn't forget the hope he had. It was small, but there was a possibility his father was still alive.

"Come on, Aster," Tumble coaxed. "We're gonna go on a little adventure."

"Are you still doubting him?" Hiccup had Toothless fly a little closer to Stormfly, gaining Astrid's attention. "He's not that bad of a guy, you know?"

Astrid sighed. "I don't know. Ever since the Heather incident, I'm kind of on edge with new faces randomly washing up on shore or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning on kicking him off. Yet. If he does anything to hurt us or our dragons, I swear-"

"He won't," Hiccup assured.

Astrid's expression was uneasy, but Hiccup's smile was reassuring. She let her gaze fall and noticed something on the beach. It was a man. Skinny, frail-looking, and old. Astrid couldn't help but think that the figure looked all too familiar.

"Isn't that Mildew?" she pointed.

Hiccup saw what she was pointing at and his eyes shot open.

"Oh Odin, it _is_ Mildew!"

They landed on the beach and hurried over to the old man. He was unconscious, but was holding tightly onto a piece of driftwood. The kids had a hard time trying to pry him from the board, but decided to let him hold on to it as they helped him onto a Toothless.

The old man began to stir awake. He felt the icy cold wind against his face and saw the clouds as he opened his eyes. He felt disoriented and dizzy, but the feeling of scaly skin between his thighs told him he was flying on a dragon.

"Where?" he mumbled.

"Welcome back, Mildew," Hiccup greeted the waking old man.

The old man said nothing for a moment. Hiccup almost sent Toothless falling

when he heard what the man said next:

"I'm not Mildew. My name is Seamus."

* * *

The reason why Chapters 7 and 8 are gonna go up together is simple: It's like a two-part episode that mainly focuses on Seamus and Tumble. Is it safe to assume you're starting to see some parallels by now? Haha. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^-^


End file.
